Once Upon a Time... ✘ Bring Your Own Aphro
Once upon a time there was a child of the ocean who yearned to be a child of the air.
He longed to live on the surface so badly that he would sneak away to the shallows and let the beach breezes dry his wet skin. It was dangerous, of course, and therefore forbidden, but he continued on his outings despite the risks.
That all changed on one stormy day. The ocean child caught sight of something new and exciting - a ship with many strange beings that looked like his people from head to waist. They had two limbs keeping them upright instead of fins and a tail, and he remembers the stories he's been told all his life about these earth beings. Humans. Ones who are hideous and want nothing more than to capture them all for their own amusement, but they looked anything but hideous to him. The way the sky-water dripped down from their hair was beautiful, he thought. Much more beautiful than any of the other ocean children at home.
He ended up following the ship for hours, watching one of the humans in particular, even as the ocean became more agitated and dangerous. He was worried for the humans on the ship, though none so much as the Boy-Man who caught his eye. So when the waves get increasingly larger until finally the ship tips over, he is quick to grab the Boy-Man and pull him to the safety of the shallows.
By the time the Boy-Man is found, the ocean child is already back home and facing his punishment for going to the surface.
Locked in a cage for both punishment and safety, it is a long time before the little ocean prince can feel the air on his skin again. His freedom is costly, but he's eager to pay it. He doesn't question how the sea witch found him, nor what she wants with his voice - he just wants to be free of this underwater prison and be a child of the air. The potion she gives him is foul beyond reason. It tears him apart with a pain she informs him will stay with him the rest of his days, but compared to the pain in his heart it is meager.
He nearly drowns in his desperate swim to reach the surface, not used to water suffocating him. By the time he reaches the sand he's thoroughly exhausted, but he gets to his feet (nearly falling over the first few times as he gets accustomed to both walking and the pain of it) and begins to search for a familiar face. There's a town not so far away from him, so he decides to head in that direction. Unmindful of his nudity but infinitely aware of the chilled air hitting his skin, he picks up an old scrap of sail and wraps it around himself as he takes his first few steps into town, leaving red-tinted footsteps in his wake.
[ooc: AU setting, obviously. Akito is 16 here, 4'8", 84lbs. Dominant males only for smut. Kink list is here. He has no eye-patch, is mute, it feels like stepping on knives whenever he walks, and his feet bleed. Hans Christian Andersen is so nice. Anyway, he gets to be a 'Child of Air' or Earth being after one of them ~shares their body~ with him. ;D Feel free to be a random townsperson wanting to help (or take advantage), be the Boy-Man he saw on the ship, a police officer, another merperson-turned-human to come drag him back, or whatever.]
He longed to live on the surface so badly that he would sneak away to the shallows and let the beach breezes dry his wet skin. It was dangerous, of course, and therefore forbidden, but he continued on his outings despite the risks.
That all changed on one stormy day. The ocean child caught sight of something new and exciting - a ship with many strange beings that looked like his people from head to waist. They had two limbs keeping them upright instead of fins and a tail, and he remembers the stories he's been told all his life about these earth beings. Humans. Ones who are hideous and want nothing more than to capture them all for their own amusement, but they looked anything but hideous to him. The way the sky-water dripped down from their hair was beautiful, he thought. Much more beautiful than any of the other ocean children at home.
He ended up following the ship for hours, watching one of the humans in particular, even as the ocean became more agitated and dangerous. He was worried for the humans on the ship, though none so much as the Boy-Man who caught his eye. So when the waves get increasingly larger until finally the ship tips over, he is quick to grab the Boy-Man and pull him to the safety of the shallows.
By the time the Boy-Man is found, the ocean child is already back home and facing his punishment for going to the surface.
Locked in a cage for both punishment and safety, it is a long time before the little ocean prince can feel the air on his skin again. His freedom is costly, but he's eager to pay it. He doesn't question how the sea witch found him, nor what she wants with his voice - he just wants to be free of this underwater prison and be a child of the air. The potion she gives him is foul beyond reason. It tears him apart with a pain she informs him will stay with him the rest of his days, but compared to the pain in his heart it is meager.
He nearly drowns in his desperate swim to reach the surface, not used to water suffocating him. By the time he reaches the sand he's thoroughly exhausted, but he gets to his feet (nearly falling over the first few times as he gets accustomed to both walking and the pain of it) and begins to search for a familiar face. There's a town not so far away from him, so he decides to head in that direction. Unmindful of his nudity but infinitely aware of the chilled air hitting his skin, he picks up an old scrap of sail and wraps it around himself as he takes his first few steps into town, leaving red-tinted footsteps in his wake.
[ooc: AU setting, obviously. Akito is 16 here, 4'8", 84lbs. Dominant males only for smut. Kink list is here. He has no eye-patch, is mute, it feels like stepping on knives whenever he walks, and his feet bleed. Hans Christian Andersen is so nice. Anyway, he gets to be a 'Child of Air' or Earth being after one of them ~shares their body~ with him. ;D Feel free to be a random townsperson wanting to help (or take advantage), be the Boy-Man he saw on the ship, a police officer, another merperson-turned-human to come drag him back, or whatever.]